With promotion now dependent on a few very unlikely miracles, it was perhaps a little harder for all at Hawthornden to get enthusiastic about this match. It turned into something of a dour struggle decided in the end by penalties alone.

Playing towards Rosewell but in that rare event, a windless day, Lasswade had all the territory and possession during the first 15 minutes but some stubborn and sometimes scrambling defending sent them away empty handed.

Lineouts tended to go with throw and honours tended to be even in the rucks and mauls. In the set scrum, though, Lasswade’s superiority became more and more obvious and proved to be the deciding factor in the end.

After the opening Lasswade onslaught, play swung mostly between the 22’s for the next 20 minutes until some robust forward play was held up over the Howe line. Lasswade had the 5 metre scrum backpedalling at speed and illegally and the ref had no problem giving the penalty try.

Going over the top at a tackle gave Aitken the chance to claw three back for Howe, just before half-time.

Howe’s defending and spoiling kept them in the game in the second half against continuous Lasswade pressure.

With just eight minutes to go, another five yard scrum had Howe in complete disarray and the second penalty try put their hosts two scores ahead with just minutes left and the game effectively ended at that point.

Lasswade stay in fourth place, five points behind Dumfries and seven behind Hamilton. The Bulls scored five tries to Kirkcaldy’s three but the latter’s goal kicker made the difference and Kirkcaldy won 33-30 and secured the Division Championship with 2 games to play.

Lasswade travel to Newton Mearns this Saturday to take on Whitecraigs who need their own miracle to avoid relegation. Kick-off 3pm.